Fat Joe Wrote a Triumphant Summer Hit. He Hopes It Soundtracks a Knicks Victory
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- Fat Joe released "Victory Lap (Him)" this week as the first preview of his forthcoming album produced by Cool & Dre, tentatively slated for mid-July.
- The track flips Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous "Victory" (with Diddy), weaves in a 1988 MC Lyte sample, and features Yung Miami alongside a brief Jadakiss appearance.
- Fat Joe has been courtside throughout the Knicks' playoff run alongside Spike Lee, telling Rolling Stone the team is now one game away from their first championship since 1973.
- Fat Joe's Knicks fandom dates to watching games with his grandfather in Spanish Harlem's Washington Projects; his late brother first brought him to Madison Square Garden three decades ago, and Big Pun was a regular game companion he plans to think of if they win.
- As a 14- or 15-year-old, Fat Joe scalped tickets outside Madison Square Garden, where he met Tracy Morgan — unsold tickets meant they went inside to watch the game.
- When Fat Joe's 1993 debut album "Represent" came out, only one current Knick — Jordan Clarkson — had been born.
Why it matters: Fat Joe is deliberately rolling out a summer single and a new album during the Knicks' first Finals run since 1973, a bet that New York's mood will carry the record. For a rapper whose debut predates every current Knick except Jordan Clarkson, the convergence of 30-plus years of fandom and a career-milestone rollout is the hook — and he's personally flying to San Antonio for Game 5 with the track already out.
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